Tag Archives: Dark Harbor 17-1/2

Kotimana –  25’ Gaff-Rigged Sloop – 4sale

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Kotimana –  25’ Gaff-Rigged Sloop – 4sale

Having spent a bit of time at the NZ Traditional Boat Building School, numerous times I bumped into one of the schools trustees – Kere Kemp and was fascinated to learn the Kere was having a yacht built in the USA, which would end up in NZ waters. 

The yacht is a ‘Dark Harbor 17.5 – gaff rigged sloop. Full specs below:

LOA 7.6M (25’), LWL 5.3M (17’ 6”), Beam 1.9M (6’ 3”), Max Draft 1.3M (4’ 3”), Sail Area 28.9 sq M (311 sq ft), Displacement 1,588 kg (3,500 lb)

I’ll hand over to Kere to tell the story –

“Designed in 1908 by American naval architect B.B. Crowninshield she was built by the classes of 2017-18 (under supervision) at the Northwest School of Wooden Boat Building (Port Hadlock, WA, USA).  She was launched at Port Townsend, WA, USA in August 2018 and arrived, to Auckland New Zealand by container in November 2018.

Dark Harbour 17 ½’s often, are described as “pure racing machines of great beauty.”  They were originally intended primarily for racing but have become increasingly popular for day sailing as well as overnight coastal cruising.

Construction is of traditional Western Red Cedar planking over White Oak frames with a Mahogany backbone, Teak deck and Spruce Spars.

She has a large self-bailing cockpit plus a small cuddy cabin with 1.1M (3’ 6”) head room and dual berths.  A low freeboard, slender hull lines, long ends, a deep draft and a large gaff rig makes her a powerful, fast and responsive boat.

Sails are from Northwest Sails (Port Hadlock, WA, USA) and include a full main with double reefs, a working jib and a storm jib.  Both jibs are club footed.

For added propulsion she is fitted with a Torqeedo through hull Cruise 4.0 pod drive.  This is a 9.9HP equivalent, electric (dual lithium-Ion battery) system.  This includes all shore charging systems, a morse key for forward / reverse and power control plus a computer which provides for a variety of informational outputs including Speed (GPS-based, over ground), range, power consumption and battery charge state.  In addition, hydrogeneration is possible via a fitted folding prop.

The Torqeedo system makes for easy “in and out” marina access and, also provides more than ample power when needed to go head-to-wind when reefing sail.  The onboard computer is further supplemented with a Raymarine Micro-Net 100-2 that provides digital read outs of true boat speed and depth.  All deck and rig fittings are in bronze.”

To view the A>Z building of Kotimana at the Northwest School of Wooden Boat Building click on the image / link below to view an amazing gallery of photos.

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I bumped into Kere the other day at Half Moon Bay marina, while he was doing the annual maintenance – and he advised that due to health issues, sadly he had made the decision to sell Kotimana – so woodys, if you are looking for a very manageable (1>2 crew), low maintenance, gaffer in immaculate condition, that sails like a witch, Kotimana is worthy an inspection. Perfect classic for a couple of woodys wanting to continue their classic sailing interest without all the downsides of a 50’gaffer that needs a crew of 10 to take out 🙂

Kotimana made an apperance of WW back in Sept 2018, post launching – link below – https://waitematawoodys.com/2018/09/09/kotimana/

Interested parties to contact waitematawoodys@gmail.com to discuss further > view Kotimana

Kotimana

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KOTIMANA
On my last visit to the NZ Traditional Boatbuilding School I got chatting to one of the trustees – Kere Kemp & he casually dropped in that he was building a Dark Harbor 17 1/2’. Thats cool I thought & then I discover its being built in Port Hadlock out on the Olympic peninsula oppposite Seattle, Washington USA.
The yachts name is Kotimana – Maori for scotch thistle in recognition of Kere’s mother – Scottish, and his dad – Maori.
Kere commissioned her in September 2016 at the end of a post-retirement year at the North West School of Wooden Boatbuilding in Port Hadlock.
She was built by the classes of 2017 and 2018, & was launched at Point Hudson Marina, Port Townsend on August 29th. She is heading down under but with a few stops on the way – firstly Kotimana will be on display at the 42nd Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival, second weekend of September and will then head via container to the 2019 Australian Wooden Boat Festival in early 2019 before finally making it home to Auckland in mid February 2019.
For those of you scratching your head thinking “what is a Dark Harbour 17-1/2 below is a description excerpted from a pre-launch write up that the NWSWB wrote when announcing the launch.
Dark Harbour 17-1/2

Originally designed for the Manchester Yacht Club in Massachusetts USA and called the Manchester 17, the first boats were built by the Rice Bros in 1908. As the design’s popularity spread it acquired a number of different names including the Bar Harbor 17 and eventually the Dark Harbor 17-1/2. The plans for this yacht are credited to BB Crowninshield and were completed by R. N. Burbank, an employee of the firm at the time.

 
The Dark Harbor 17-1/2 is a pure sailing machine of great beauty, but large enough to offer considerably more comfort through a larger cockpit well and a small cuddy cabin. Low freeboard combined with a wide, self-bailing cockpit well that seats you “down in” the boat puts you very close to the water. The lovely, slender hull lines, long ends, deep draft and large rig provide wonderfully sweet feel in this powerful, fast, wet, responsive and handy boat.

BB Crowninsheild was a US Naval Architect from the late 1800’s / early 1900’s who designed a number of boats including an America’s Cup contender and the largest ever steel hulled sailing boat (just prior to the introduction of the steam engine to sail boats).
Kerry commented that he fell in love with the lines of a Dark Harbor back in 2010 and decided that he would ultimately build one for himself.  Sanity eventually crept in and he commissioned her instead – Kerry was able to do some work on her prior to his move to New Zealand in mid 2017.
I’ll get a sneak preview of her at the Australian Wooden Boat Festival in Feb 2019 so will update this story with more photos.
Kotimana will be a magnificent additional to Auckland’s classic fleet.